Week 3 Raiders Power Rankings ’round the web

The Raiders won a hard-fought game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, improving their record to 1-2.  Last week, of the sites referenced, the Raiders’ average power ranking out of 32 teams was just about 30.  How would they fare this week?

ESPN: 27

ProFootballTalk: 20

NFL.com: 29

Fox Sports: 26

CBS Sports: 20

Average: 24.4 – Round down to 24
My take: 25.  I had decided this before I looked up these scores for the week, so I’m glad to see I’m right around the average.  The Raiders’ win was big, no doubt.  However, they are still a 1-2 team, pegged by some as possibly the worst team in the league just one week ago.  I move them up 5 spots in my ranking due to the big home win, but I can’t go much more than that until I see some consistency.  A win in Denver this weekend would go a long way for this team’s confidence as they head into a bye week.

 

Checking in on the Raiders in the Power Rankings

Many different sites rank the NFL teams from best to worse.  They usually (with the exception of the Associated Press, who want to seem different and fresh) call them the power rankings.  Here’s how the Raiders currently fare in some of the more prominent rankings around the web (out of 32 teams):

NFL.com – 32
Associated Press – 30
ProFootballTalk.com – 30
CBS Sports – 27
ESPN – 30
Fox Sports – 30

An average of approximately 29.8, or more realistically, 30.

Where do I have the Raiders?  I almost went with 31, because frankly, I don’t think there could be two teams playing worse than the Raiders right now.  However, I couldn’t decide between ranking the Browns or Jaguars last, so I put the Jags at 31, Browns at 31, and Raiders at 30.

What’s the good news from all of this?  The Raiders play both the Browns and Jaguars this year, so we should find out who the worst truly is!  (Hopefully, by that time Oakland will have righted the ship and won’t be in consideration with these two anymore).